


The Folly of Reason

by thegraeyone



Series: Star Trek AU [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Blood, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, M/M, Vulcan Mind Melds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21924652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegraeyone/pseuds/thegraeyone
Summary: These are the voyages of the starship Guardian. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, seek out new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before. Science Officer Kaiba and First Officer Wheeler are the right and left hand of their captain aboard the Guardian, and after a life or death situation on an alien planet, a single action has unintended consequences.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: Star Trek AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579024
Comments: 10
Kudos: 61





	The Folly of Reason

**Author's Note:**

> I did a Star Trek AU as part of my [AU collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21273701/chapters/50652917), and I've become mildly obsessed, so I'm posting this as a Christmas present to myself. This is an expanded version of the original, meant to set the ground work for future adventures.

The teleporter room was a cacophony of ensigns and medical personnel combined with the beeping alarms. The Federation ship _Guardian_ floated above a small moon-like outpost named Calta-9, a quiet looking red rock that was a mass of fighting and brutality. A landing party had beamed down to the Federation outpost six hours ago and immediately been attacked by a local alien population that had knocked down the communications array. Attempts to fix it had waylaid part of the landing party, who’d suffered an attack. Two minutes ago communications were back up, and the two officers stranded in the no man’s land between the civilizations were finally being beamed aboard. Science Officer Kaiba only remained upright thanks to the fact that First Officer Wheeler held him. Green blood poured out of an open wound in his side, staining the blue and red of their uniforms an ugly dark color.

As soon as energizing was complete, Kaiba slumped forward, barely caught by Joey. Their Chief Medical Officer had a gurney waiting, and the medical staff managed him on before wheeling him away. The ensigns were hard at work keeping communications open with their captain below. Peace was being negotiated by Captain Muto, who would remain on the outpost’s surface until all violence had ceased. In the midst of the chaos, Joey stood perfectly still.

Anzu Mazaki was the ship’s doctor, and she should’ve run off after the medical personnel, but she approached Joey instead. She snapped a finger in front of his face. He blinked.

“Are you injured?” she asked in her doctor voice. It made him stand at attention. “Any wounds sustained?”

“You’ve got bigger problems, doc,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m about to be elbow deep in Vulcan blood, so tell me now if you need a bandaid.”

“Go,” he said and offered up a smile to prove he was okay.

She only looked at him. In a softer voice, she said, “Go lay down, Joey. We’re handling things from here.”

She ran off to her duty. Joey sucked in a breath and trailed through the remaining yeomen. His head was buzzing. He knew he should follow her to the medical bay, and she’d demand a full checkup as soon as Kaiba was stable, but right now he needed to lay down. As he walked through the halls of the starship, a few ensigns side eyed his blood covered uniform. He grimaced down at it.

An hour ago the lance of Calta-9’s indigenous alien species had sliced their Chief Science Officer’s belly, and it’d only been luck that the whole thing wasn’t fatal. Joey had dragged them both to safe haven until the communicators were back up. Kaiba had started talking in Vulcan after growing, in Joey’s uneducated opinion, absolutely delirious. He’d said something, and his hand had reached up, and Joey knew fully and completely what those words had meant, even though he’d never picked up a Vulcan language dictionary in his life.

Joey and Kaiba were both bridge officers. They played the right and left hand of their captain in nearly every instance. Joey suspected Yugi kept them around because of their argumentative nature. Each problem that arose--and there were so many problems the _Guardian_ ran headfirst into--they inevitably would pick a side and snipe at each other until Yugi made the decision himself. There was a bet among the ensigns, Joey knew, of who would throw the first punch. Most of the money was on him.

The first sign of that green blood spilling out onto Kaiba’s uniform had left Joey shaken and scared. Kaiba had never been his friend, and when they weren’t in heated arguments, they existed in a cold silence. But the sight of Kaiba getting paler and weaker was going to haunt him.

The door to his quarters slid open, and Joey was already peeling the blood slick shirt over his head. He dropped it with the rest of his laundry and went to the small water closet, running the sink. He watched the water go for a minute, head hanging down. He winced as his head pulsed, the first spike of pain from a migraine, but it conjured up images: red sands baked dry, tall glass structures that shown in the setting of a red sun, and laughter from some far off place. His fingers curled on the edge of the sink.

But just as fleeting as it came, it went. Joey let out a breath and set about making himself presentable. The captain would be shipside soon. They would need to talk.

\---

In the medical bay, the machines beeped slow and steady. Kaiba was cocooned in devices and wrapped in some sort of cloth to keep him warm. He was no longer critical but still not awake. Joey sat on a bed as Anzu scanned him. Yugi paced in front of them. Captain Muto was well known for his infinite patience and diplomatic ability, which was why he was chosen for their five year mission into the final frontier. It was rumored he’d made a Klingon smile and a Vulcan laugh. Currently he was utterly pissed.

“They wanted Federation guns to blow them out of the water,” he said and threw his hands up. “They tried to involve us in their war and it nearly cost the life of one of our best officers.”

“Not the first time,” Joey said, waving a hand to get Anzu’s scanner out of his face. “Won’t be the last. It’s our job, cap.”

“We’re research and diplomacy first.” Yugi sighed and looked over where their Science Officer lay. “He’ll wake up soon, won’t he?”

Anzu nodded, returning her equipment to its place. “He’s recuperating. Vulcans are stronger than humans.”

“He’s only half-Vulcan,” Joey muttered and rubbed his face.

“‘Only’,” she repeated with a scoff. “You’ve gotta stop egging him on, Joey. One day you’ll get first hand experience.”

He rolled his eyes and turned back to his captain. “I’ve already submitted my report, but, uh, there’s something I wasn’t sure if I needed to add. I was gonna wait for Kaiba to use his big words.”

Yugi looked at him, lips an unhappy line. “What happened?”

“I don’t actually know.” Joey shifted uncomfortably. “After he was injured, I got us to some cover, and he--I dunno. Touched me. Right here.” He tapped his own temple. “And I got, not like memories, but impressions maybe.”

Anzu stood straight. Yugi folded his arms behind his back. Kaiba kept sleeping.

“Vulcans have telepathic abilities,” Anzu said. “They don’t generally use them on humans.”

“Maybe he was trying to communicate something,” Yugi said, his eyes on Joey. “We won’t know until he wakes up. For now, I’ll keep it out of my report.”

Joey felt relieved, even if he didn’t know why. He glanced back at Kaiba, who slept serenely on.

Anzu gave him a clean bill of health, and he returned to his quarters, where he collapsed onto his bed. The room was sparsely decorated. He’d never carried much with him. A few trinkets from the places he’d lived, pictures printed out and kept, an old yoyo he’d won at Coney Island, and tucked into a drawer was his acceptance letter from Starfleet. He’d been a little embarrassed to bring a stuffed animal--a wooly ram colored blue--but five years in uncharted space seemed too long to go without the small amount of comfort it brought him. He picked it up now and buried his face into it. The sterile, clean hallways of the starship had been built in space and never touched down on a planet’s surface. Sometimes he needed something that smelled like Earth.

Joey fell asleep like that, still in his operations red uniform. His dream remained in fragments that were impossible to hold onto, but he knew he was on Vulcan. The air was hard for humans to breathe, and yet his lungs didn’t struggle with it. The sun baked the landscape into red clay, with the tall mounds of rock making strange formations against the horizon. He looked out from a city, the robes he wore making his limbs feel heavy. Trepidation made his heartbeat flutter, but the overall feeling itself was nostalgic. He liked this place. There was something clean about the rise and fall of the Vulcan desert. Someone was holding his hand.

He woke with his hand still tingling. Joey lay with his eyes open, trying to force the images out of his head. He reminded himself he was born in Brooklyn, and even though he’d lived all over the United Earth, he hadn’t even seen a desert until he traveled to California to join the Academy.

First Officer Wheeler reported for duty on the bridge. They were already moving at warp factor 4 away from Calta-9. Operations were normal. Joey went through the motions of his duty, talked with the helmsmen, and the routine of it was comforting, until medical bay called Captain Muto below. Yugi lifted a hand to Joey and went down alone.

Shift changes at meal times meant Joey was in the mess hall when Kaiba appeared. He wore his full Science Officer uniform like he always did. His skin was still pale, the green flush of his blood made him look sick around the gills. He went straight to the food replicators, removed something that looked like a shake, and then stalked away. Not once did he look at Joey. Uncertainty churned in Joey’s stomach, mixed with relief and apprehension. The second Kaiba was out of his sight, Joey stood.

He found Yugi in his quarters, readying to head to the bridge. The captain looked up at him as he entered.

“Kaiba’s moving around?” Joey asked.

Yugi nodded. “He says he’s fine.”

Joey took the seat across from his desk. “He was lacerated. There was more blood on me than in him.”

“He’s not allowed to return to duty until Anzu assures me he’s up to task.” He shook his head. “That’s not what you’re really asking.”

Joey waited. Yugi sighed.

“It’s called a Vulcan mind meld,” he said. “Kaiba said he felt unable to communicate to you physically, so he attempted to do so telepathically. He’s under the impression it didn’t actually work. I asked him what he was trying to communicate, and then he clammed up.”

“That sounds like him.”

“If he did manage to implant something,” Yugi said, “you’d know. You’d share that knowledge.”

“But I don’t,” Joey said. “So it didn’t work, like he said.”

“There’s not a lot of information about it in our files,” the captain continued. “The Vulcan Science Academy isn’t very good at sharing, but from what I can tell, it goes both ways. It’s a sort of… merging, I guess. There may still be side effects.”

Joey’s heart pounded in his chest. “Did Kaiba say he had any? Side effects?”

“No.” His expression carried a heavy dose of doubt to that statement. “I think you need to talk to Kaiba. I think, even if there were, he wouldn’t tell me.”

“It’s not like he likes me any more,” Joey muttered.

“He may feel more obligated to share,” Yugi said.

His gaze studied Joey. It hadn’t worked, Kaiba said, and Joey figured he would know. So he dreamed of Vulcan. The memory of it was hazy and indistinct. Maybe something had gotten through, but it wasn’t enough to worry about. If Kaiba thought it didn’t work, then there was no reason to suggest otherwise.

“I’ll talk to him,” Joey said, with every intention of dropping it.

\---

Despite being on deck officers, First Officer Wheeler and Science Officer Kaiba managed to avoid each other entirely. It was a momentary reprieve for the crew. No more arguments on the bridge, no snide remarks in the recreation room. The newfound quiet seemed to unsettle people even more. But the dreams of Vulcan faded, or at least became more dreamlike. Sometimes Serenity was there with him, and they were only eight years old sitting on the shoreline of the beach, but the sand was red and the wind was dry and made him shiver. Sometimes it wasn’t Serenity at all sitting next to him, but a dark haired child with wide blue eyes, but the feeling was the same.

He never mentioned it to anyone, least of all Kaiba. Joey felt his captain’s eyes on him most days he was on the bridge, and it was almost a relief when the next emergency arose.

A radiated space cloud absorbed the ship, knocking out engines. Chief Engineer Taylor was hard at work keeping their support systems on, and Science Officer Kaiba remained on deck to try to determine how best to neutralize the cloud, or at least stop it from eating through the hull of the ship. An unexpected breach put Captain Muto out of commission. Joey took the captain’s chair.

At the unlucky thirteenth hour, an argument did break out. Kaiba suggested lowering their shields to release a pulse from their phaser cannons that could potentially dissipate the cloud long enough for them to get out of its range. The downside to this plan was that it could also potentially let in the radiation if the hull didn’t hold, the side effects of which included death.

“It’ll kill us,” Joey said.

“It’s a 48% chance of success,” Kaiba said calmly.

He gave a frustrated huff. “That isn’t high!”

“The alternative is to continue to wait until the shields fail on their own, and by then it’ll be a 5% chance of recovery. The outside hull won’t last at that point. Then we die anyway.”

“Cheery,” he muttered. He’d take those odds for himself anytime, but as of right now he was acting captain, with a ship full of people whose lives he was currently in charge of. “We don’t have working engines. We already have a hull breach. Lowering shields for half a chance is too dangerous.”

“Rather than sitting here, waiting to die?” Kaiba stood in front of him, talking down to him. It made Joey’s fists curl. “You’re too scared to make the right choice.”

He grit his teeth and stood straight up. “And you’re too reckless, Seto!”

Kaiba always kept himself perfectly composed, and Joey’d rarely seen a flinch across his face, but something did, rippling like a water droplet in a still lake, shock and surprise and anger. Joey snapped his mouth shut. He was absolutely certain that before Calta-9 he hadn’t even known Kaiba had a first name, much less a human one. His head buzzed. Everyone on deck was looking at them.

“Get Tristan to tell me we can make it,” Joey said. “And we’ll do it.”

He sunk back into the chair. Kaiba turned to get on the horn with engineering.

It worked, of course it did, because Kaiba was right about everything. Ten hours later they’d managed to dock themselves at a station. Engineering was going over damage. Yugi was still in a medical bed with Anzu fussing over him as he communicated with the closest Federation ship for support. Joey walked the ship, communicated with Engineering, submitted his reports, did anything but sleep, and it was when he visited Yugi in the medical bay that he was finally ordered to take a rest.

“You’re exhausted,” Yugi said.

“I’m fine,” Joey insisted.

“You haven’t slept in twenty-four hours, and that’s after a major crisis.” He was using his captain voice. There was no getting out of this one. “You’re ordered to rest in your quarters. As of right now you’re off duty.”

He let out a breath. “Alright, captain.”

Yugi’s expression softened. He tilted his head in a display of sympathy. “Are you sure you’re okay? Something’s been off since--”

“Everything’s fine,” Joey said, raising his hands. “You gotta rest up too.”

Yugi seemed like he wanted to say more, but Joey left the room before he could. He made it back to his quarters and paced the length of it a few times. He managed to lay down for a minute before he was back on his feet. He knew with absolute certainty that if he slept, the dreams would come back just as strong. Eventually, there was a knock at his door. A stolid act of politeness, especially from the person on the other side. Joey knew it was Kaiba before he let him in. The door slid shut behind him, and the two didn’t quite look at each other.

“We should discuss,” Kaiba said slowly, and seemed to struggle with the end of his sentence before settling on, “things.”

Exhaustion weighed on Joey’s shoulders. Ignoring it had been easy, but now Kaiba was standing right in front of him. A million questions flood his mind, but all he asked was, “Why’d you do it?”

Kaiba frowned. “If it worked, you’d already know.”

“Do you wanna know what I know?” he asked, holding a hand to his forehead. “I know you lived on Earth for nine years before they took you to ShiKhar. I know what Vulcan’s Forge looks like at twilight. I know you love Vulcan even though some horrible things happened there. I know that your parents died, and I know about your brother--”

He stopped himself. Kaiba still wasn’t looking at him. His hands were folded behind his back, his face pinched. Quietly, Kaiba said, “She’s my sister now.”

“Oh,” Joey said.

“Vulcan was never very good for her.” His eyes went up to the ceiling next. “She now lives on a colony that’s populated by many alien species. She paints. She’s… happy.”

Joey’s head filled with images of Serenity, who smiled brightly after her surgery to fix her vision, the first time they’d seen each other in nearly a decade. Who’d cried and hugged him when he told her about this mission, but she said she understood. Yugi had said the mind meld worked both ways, and when Joey looked up at Kaiba, he wondered if he knew that too.

“Do you remember,” Kaiba asked, “what I told you on Calta-9?”

“You said…” He couldn’t quite remember the Vulcan. It’d run together with the rest. But the final statement before Kaiba’s fingers pressed to his forehead stood out. “You said ‘protect’.”

“It was selfish,” Kaiba said. “In the moment, I didn’t know what would happen to me. I had to be sure that--that someone cared. Adena and I are already orphans. We’ve no family left on Vulcan or on Earth. If I died, she’d have no one. I only meant to leave an imprint, to give a few of my memories so you would understand, but it’s a door that’s opened.”

“The captain said that it’s like a merging,” Joey repeated. “Did you… I mean, do you know…?”

Finally Kaiba’s eyes focused on him. The few heartbeats it took him to answer made Joey’s chest ache.

“I don’t know your life story,” Kaiba said. “What remains are half-remembered things, like faded pictures. Snowfall gathering on a window. Waves on the shore. There’s a girl there.”

“Serenity,” he said. “She’s my sister. I’d do pretty much anything for her.”

Kaiba nodded in understanding.

“There’s no way to fix this, right?” Joey asked hopefully. “I’m stuck dreaming of Vulcan whenever I close my eyes?”

“Better that than your winter storm.” Kaiba shivered, possibly for dramatic effect. “Some Vulcans can remove memories as well as share them, but I’m--I’m not one of them, and there’s a chance you could suffer irreparable brain damage. Not that I’m sure anyone would notice.”

Joey smiled. The insults were almost comforting. They’d held an equilibrium for as long as they’d been on this ship, a careful balance of disagreements and outright distaste, measured against goodwill and respect. That balance had been shifted in these past few weeks. They needed new footing.

“Uh,” Joey said, “I’m sorry if, on the bridge, I said something you wanted to keep private.”

“My sister is the only one who refers to me as ‘Seto’,” he said. “It’s not my name on Vulcan.”

“Do you ever miss it?” Joey asked. “Earth, I mean.”

“I don’t remember it. There’s never been any point in trying to.” His brow furrowed in thought. “May I ask you a question?”

“Yeah,” Joey breathed. “Go for it.”

Kaiba hesitated, before asking, “How are you coping with the distance from your sister? It’s more difficult than I anticipated.”

He scratched the back of his neck. “A lot of practice, I guess. I’m used to talking to her entirely through vid screens.”

Kaiba nodded, though he didn’t look satisfied. “I believe Adena’s in the right place for herself. I am as well. It’s illogical to feel any level of loss.”

“She’s your sister,” Joey said simply. “And it does suck. I don’t know if the distance ever got easier, but it helped, you know, still being able to talk to Serenity. We were never really out of each other’s lives.”

“That is helpful,” he said and seemed to settle into quiet thought.

“You know,” Joey offered, “if you’re feeling a little lonely, Lt. Bakura does a game night in the recreation room. I’d like to see that cold logical mind of yours applied to something like _Clue_. Did you play games on Vulcan?”

“Of course.” Kaiba lifted his chin. “I am without equal at any Vulcan logic puzzle.”

“Yeah,” Joey said with a grin. “You’re definitely sitting in next time.”

He could’ve sworn Kaiba was smiling when he said, “I think I’d like that.”

\---

The truce that followed was not the tense aftermath of a mission gone wrong. The main deck remained at peace, and if there were arguments, they resolved without any bloodshed. Their captain watched on with a discerning eye, Joey knew, but he didn’t push that matter. Joey was grateful for that.

A second shift happened aboard the _Guardian_ . Kaiba in his free time did not interact with the crew, until he appeared at game night in the rec room. He spent twenty minutes fiddling with _Monopoly_ before declaring it completely illogical, and Joey dragged him into a game of Thirty-One with a few of the yeomen. He quickly proved better suited for card games, a fact that delighted Joey, who could deal a deck for any situation. The addition of Kaiba to their game night did seem to knock the crew off-kilter, but only until he won his first hand. Then all bets were off.

And then, even outside of the shared camaraderie and attempts at human connection amid the ceaseless void, Kaiba sought Joey out. Now at meal times they sat together, and Joey would watch him pick over the vegetarian Vulcan cuisine, trying things when offered and sharing in return. Kaiba was suspect of all Earth food but refused to be called a coward over it. In the recreation room, he taught Joey to play three dimension chess. It took an extra level of strategy and awareness that Joey could not get a handle on for the longest time, until he checkmated Kaiba in a move that was absolute pure luck. He had to be ordered to stop gloating by the captain.

They stopped at a spaceport teeming with life from Federation planets, whose devotion to sharing and cultural mosaic represented the dreams and hopes of the Federation’s mission, at least according to the director of the spaceport, who greeted them. Shore leave was granted, and Joey wandered the streets of its market, hoping to find something to send to his sister. Looking through the window of one shop, he saw something he didn’t even realize he recognized. The shape of the guitar was strange, oblong and almost square except for its wavelike shape along the outside. The protruding neck reminded him more of a harp than anything else, and the shopkeep told him it was a Vulcan lyre. 

“A very popular instrument,” they insisted. “Vulcans find it very soothing.”

The shopkeep was not Vulcan, but Joey knew one hundred percent that they were right. He’d never seen one before, but he could remember what it sounded like, and he plucked one of the strings, just to hear it go. He offered whatever they asked before making off with it.

Joey found Kaiba in the recreation room and thrust it into his hands before he said anything at all. Kaiba stared.

“It’s a lute,” Joey said.

“I know what it is.” Kaiba turned it over in his hands. “Why do you have one?”

“Because you play it, don’t you?” Joey leaned forward excitedly. “I wanna hear.”

His fingers rested on the strings as his hands went to the pitch glide. He frowned as he played a chord. “You acquired this for your own amusement at my expense?”

Joey rolled his eyes as he settled into the chair beside him. “It’s not ‘at your expense’. I was hoping you’d share.”

He played a few more chords before he set about fiddling with the knobs. “It’s not very well cared for.”

Kaiba continued to adjust the lute, and Joey curled his legs up, slumping over the arms of the chair to watch. Slowly, he seemed to work out the knobs. A few people in the recreation room had moved closer out of curiosity. If Kaiba noticed the audience, he didn’t let it bother him as he finally ran his fingers along the chords, releasing a musical scale he deemed appropriate. He played the first few notes of something.

Joey smiled as he listened. “You don’t seem real musical.”

“It’s a Vulcan past time.” His fingers moved deftly across the bridge. “Music is constructed in scale and ratios. It creates movement.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Joey said fondly.

“You _asked_ ,” Kaiba said.

He continued to play. The music wasn’t only soothing to Vulcans. Joey felt his eyelids grow heavy, the roots of his hair tingle. The song was a cocoon of warmth, and Joey nearly fell asleep, until he heard Kaiba humming low. His eyes fluttered open, and Kaiba was looking at him, his fingers never faltered, but his expression was wide eyed. A touch of green colored the tips of his pointed ears. Joey watched with fascination. The song Kaiba played trailed away, and he sat up stiffly, setting it by his feet.

“That’s enough for now,” he said in a hoarse voice.

“It was really good,” Joey said.

“I’m out of practice,” was all he said before he returned to what he’d been doing.

The dreams of Vulcan had faded, no more reoccuring than the other memories that haunted Joey. He enjoyed a rest filled dreamless sleep that night, but he did wake with a song stuck in his head. 

\---

The _Guardian_ was stopped on a disputed piece of rock lightyears from anything of interest, and yet the words ‘tactical advantage’ were still being thrown around. A Klingon ship hovered in the same space the _Guardian_. Joey felt stiff in his formal uniform, but the captain thought it’d look better. Yugi had the Klingon captain and the moon colony leader talk privately. Joey stood behind his captain, hoping he looked serious, and keeping his eye out for any tells.

They returned to the ship that night, exhausted, and with a growing headache between them. Joey popped into the med bay to get something to help with that, and he ran directly into Kaiba as he was leaving. The Science Officer blinked at him once before turning away and heading down the hall. Joey watched for a moment before finding Anzu inside. She handed him a pill, and he downed it in front of her.

“You and Kaiba have been playing nice lately,” she said.

He nodded. Already the headache was feeling lighter. “He’s alright, when he wants to be.”

“He is.” She moved around the med bay, placing things back where they belonged, closing cabinets. “Yugi thinks this is good for the two of you.”

“You’re talking about me with Yugi now,” he said.

“It’s my job to keep the captain informed.” She smiled at him as she settled into a chair. “Besides, you know he worries.”

“You tell Kaiba that too?”

“What I tell Kaiba is protected by the Hippocratic oath,” she said. “But I’ll ask you something. How’re your dreams?”

Joey started. He looked at her. “You take on ship therapist?”

“Humor me,” she said.

“I dunno. Normal. Why?”

Anzu nodded. “Kaiba suggested the mind meld might’ve been more lasting than he realized. I looked into it. Vulcans think of it as sharing a little part of their soul. There’s dangers to it. You can lose yourself entirely, if you’re not practiced enough.”

“Well we’re not doing it again,” Joey said. “So I’m not worried.”

“When two Vulcans share like that,” she continued, gaze levied on him, “they become bonded. It’s common in a telepathic species. Even apart, they can feel each other.”

“Did Kaiba say something?” Joey asked nervously.

“No,” she said. “I just wanted to be sure that you’re feeling like yourself. That the things you think and feel are because of you, and not because someone rooted around in your brain.”

“Of course not,” he said. “You think my personality’s so weak that anyone can steamroll it?”

She snorted. “You’re all personality, Joey. I’d hate to see someone try.”

He smiled, but something nagged at him. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“I’m just looking out for my crewmen,” Anzu said with a stretch. “It’s my job, isn’t it? And as your doctor, I recommend getting some sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He gave her a lazy salute. “I’m off.”

Joey made his way through the ship’s halls to his quarters. He paused along the way, seeing a familiar figure standing, almost as though he was waiting. Science Officer Kaiba hovered in the open door of the mess hall. Joey slowed.

“Surprised the captain didn’t include you in the talks,” Joey said.

“Klingons have little regard for the Vulcan,” Kaiba said.

“You’ve got a level head for these sort of things.”

He shook his head. “This is where your skills are better suited.”

Joey looked at him, a smile pulling his lips. “That almost sounded like a compliment.”

Again, the tips of Kaiba’s pointed ears colored green. Joey realized with amusement that the Vulcan’s green blood meant he blushed in a completely different color. He had no idea what to do with this information, except enjoy it.

“Does Captain Muto think the talks will take long?” Kaiba asked.

“Nah,” Joey said. “There’s nothing really to fight for out here. The Klingons are just throwing their weight around, but we’re not about to kick off another war over a rock nobody wants.”

“I’m pleased to hear that,” he said. Joey noticed his stance was stiffer, as though they were on deck together, his arms folded behind his back. His lips were a passive line, but there was something behind his eyes. “I was hoping we could speak soon, when the captain has less need of you.”

A nervous flutter rippled in Joey’s chest, but he kept smiling. “Sure. Anything important?”

“It’s a question on Earth matters,” he said. “But I’d like your full attention.”

It was all Kaiba would say on it, and Joey spent hours mulling over what he meant. The distraction was probably why he didn’t pick up on the leader of the moon colony carrying a phaser into a peace talk until he’d drawn it. It was only by instinct that Joey put himself between the shot and the Klingon captain. Thankfully not set to its highest power, it still _hurt_. Joey had no idea what followed the pulling of a gun on a Klingon commander, because he woke up in the medical bay with Anzu treating the burn, but she told him the resulting kerfuffle ended with the moon leader in Federation custody. The other option was a Klingon brig. Joey thought the man had chosen wisely.

“It’s not fatal,” she promised. Already the salve she’d rubbed into his skin was turning it from red to its usual warm color, though it didn’t quite match as the new skin grew. “I wouldn’t recommend running headfirst into anymore phaser fire though.”

“It helped, didn’t it?” he said, head hanging back.

“The Klingons were certainly impressed.” She stood, removing the gloves from her hands, and she went to the sink. “Yugi’s still talking everyone down, but they’re friendlier now.”

“Klingons have a warrior culture,” Kaiba said from the doorway, and Joey sat straight up, wincing at the spike of pain in his side. Kaiba was looking at him. “It was a thrilling display of heroism.”

“I managed not to die,” Joey said. His shirt was off from Anzu fixing him up, and he reached for it quickly.

Anzu gave Kaiba a look, and then she announced, “I’m going to let the captain know you’re alive.”

She left the room, despite a perfectly good comm board in the medical bay. Kaiba quietly moved to Joey’s bedside, sitting down beside him. Joey finished slipping on his Starfleet uniform.

“I wanted to be sure you were alright,” Kaiba said slowly, like he was parsing out his words.

“Aw.” Joey smiled up at him. “You worried about me.”

“It’d be a shame for Starfleet to lose one of its best officers.”

Kaiba’s blue eyes were on Joey. There was an emotion swimming in them, something difficult to place. Joey found himself leaning forward as he examined Kaiba’s face. The quiet between them wasn’t uncomfortable, but there was apprehension in it. Neither party moved.

“There’s a matter I’ve been meaning to discuss with you,” Kaiba said. His tone was level, but it made Joey’s heart pound faster in his chest. “After recent events this seemed an opportune time.”

“You said it was an Earth question.”

“In a way.” His gaze dropped down. His fingers curled together nervously. “I don’t know much about your social customs. I’ve observed, but it hasn’t given me the hard data I need, and our records are perilously short on this subject.”

Joey let out a breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about and I gotta. Would you just say it?”

Green dots appeared on the high cheekbones of Kaiba’s face. “I was looking to begin a courtship with you, but I’m not sure where to start. Most Vulcan relationships are arranged in some way, to assist in logical pairings. We are in a delicate position as well, thanks to our roles on this ship, and I--”

“Courtship?” Joey repeated. “You mean like dating? You mean like you wanna date me?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “Yes.”

A grin stretched across Joey’s face. “Did you check the computer databanks to get information on Terran dating?”

“I like to be well prepared.”

Possibly, but not probably, if Joey hadn’t been recovering from injury he might not have laughed, but a giggle escaped his lips as he sat forward. It was too easy to imagine Kaiba harboring a crush and conducting serious scientific research because of it. He couldn’t even begin to wonder what his observations included. He covered his mouth with his hands, but Kaiba looked away.

“I can see now I’ve made a mistake,” Kaiba said and made to stand.

“Wait!” Joey quieted his laughter. “I’m sorry. I got shot today. Please continue.”

“You can be very annoying,” he said.

“And yet,” Joey crooned, “you still wanna date me.”

He wiggled closer to Kaiba and extended out a hand, two fingers stretched out, his palm pointed to the ceiling. The gesture didn’t mean much in human terms. It registered lower than hand holding. But the flush on Kaiba’s face spread. He mirrored the action, touching the tips of his fingers to Joey’s. They remained like that, each gazing at their joined hands.

“What d’ya think Yugi’s gonna say?” Joey asked.

“He’s always so pleased,” Kaiba said tiredly.

Joey curled his fingers a little tighter. “So what’s your next step? Since you’re so prepared.”

Kaiba’s gaze remained on their fingers. “Human custom suggests dinner and some form of entertainment.”

“What about Vulcan custom?” he asked.

“We aren’t known for our romance,” Kaiba said.

“You could serenade me again,” Joey said. “I liked that. Or do Vulcans have a cinema?”

A smile tugged at the edges of Kaiba’s lips. “We do. I’m afraid you’ll find it unentertaining.”

“Games!” Joey looked up excitedly. “We both like games. You said there were some Vulcan games you wanted to teach me, and I’d love to see you bluff.”

“Then,” Kaiba said uncertainly, “it’s a date.”

Neither of them moved, until slowly Kaiba brought his hand back. He stood awkwardly, saying his farewell, and the second the door slid shut behind him, Joey flopped back. It didn’t matter that his body ached and he’d nearly died. The elation overwhelmed any negativity. A date with a Vulcan. A date with _Kaiba_. Cold, logical, reasonable Kaiba, who must’ve weighed the pros and cons of this for hours, who sought hard data to ensure he was making the right choice. Somehow, Joey had passed his rigid philosophy. Something had made Kaiba choose him. Joey was going to make absolutely sure he was worth it. On their date that they were going to have.

Alone in the med bay, Joey cackled. He hoped for the first time that their link wasn’t severed, and with this giddiness that overwhelmed him, he hoped Kaiba could feel it too.

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of notes! The Adena headcanon comes from a lot of conversations with my dear friend [October](https://archiveofourown.org/users/octobervalentine/pseuds/octobervalentine). I spent way too long looking up how to play a Vulcan lute, and I'd like to thank the nerds out there for making [this helpful guide](https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/vulcan-harp-construction-plans.php). The games they played were a little old fashioned, and concept of Monopoly in the far off future of Star Trek is a little ridiculous, but listen, the joke was too good.
> 
> I'm still working out some things with the characters but I'm pretty sure I have everyone's crew positions laid out. I'm definitely going to continue this in a sort of episodic way. I've got lots of ideas brimming.


End file.
